Dating Scammers, what they are, how to spot them and what to do

Every Argentine over 60 knows the cuento del tío. Somebody rings, somebody has a story, and by the end of it your savings are in a stranger's hands. What we are talking about here is the same con with a screen in front of it, and it takes longer. The story arrives over weeks or months instead of one phone call, which is exactly what makes it work. At Singles Over 60 Dating we take this seriously and work constantly to keep these people off the site.

The great majority of the people you will meet here are exactly who they say they are. The small number who are not tend to follow the same script, and once you have read the script they become much easier to spot.

What is a dating scammer?

Somebody using the site to take from you rather than to meet you. They are not looking for a partner. They are looking for money, or for the details that lead to it. It is a crime, and when it runs through a dating service it is called estafa romántica.

It is worth saying plainly that falling for one is nothing to be ashamed of. These people do it full time and they are practised at it. They target decent, trusting people precisely because they are decent and trusting. UFECI, the national cybercrime prosecutor's office, took more than 34,000 reports of computer crime in 2024, and around 63 per cent of those were fraud of one kind or another. Scammers have even impersonated UFECI's own chief prosecutor over WhatsApp to sell a fake investment. If they will try that, nobody should feel foolish for being taken in by a warm conversation.

How to spot one

The story does not quite hold together
The thing to watch is not imperfect Spanish or imperfect English, because this is a country built by people who arrived speaking something else. What gives a scammer away is inconsistency. Somebody who says they have lived in Rosario for thirty years but cannot name a barrio, or who writes in the neutral Spanish of a call centre with never a vos in it, or whose details quietly change between one week and the next. Stock phrases repeat too, because they are copied from a script. If a message reads like a form letter with your name pasted in, it probably is one.

It moves very fast
Declarations of love in the first fortnight. Talk of a future together before you have heard each other's voice. Real affection at our age takes longer than that, and the hurry is deliberate: the whole approach depends on getting you attached before anybody mentions money.

Money, eventually, always
Never send money to another member, however good the story and however long you have been talking. The classic is the plane ticket so they can finally come and see you. Then there is the medical emergency, the customs charge on a parcel, the business deal that has gone wrong, the relative in trouble.

Another version runs the other way. They ask for your bank details, or a photo of your DNI, so they can send you something or hold money for you safely. What actually happens is a loan taken out in your name. This is common enough in Argentina now that the courts have started dealing with it. In March 2026 a judge ordered a bank to stop collecting on a seven million peso loan that fraudsters had taken in a pensioner's name after getting her details over WhatsApp, and barred the bank from reporting her to the credit agencies while the case ran. Worth knowing, because the debt is not automatically yours.

The newest version does not ask for anything at first. They mention how well they have done from an investment, usually crypto, and offer to show you. The site they steer you to looks convincing and the balance appears to grow. It is not real, and you will find you cannot withdraw it.

Profiles that keep the person out of reach
A great many of these accounts put the person conveniently far away. Working offshore, posted abroad with the military, on a contract in another country, doing aid work somewhere remote. It is a tidy explanation for why they can never meet and why the connection is always bad. Nearly empty profiles deserve a second look too, not because a private person is suspicious, but because somebody running forty accounts does not bother filling them in. And look properly at the photographs. If they look like a fashion shoot or a stock image, they usually are.

Trust yourself

If something feels wrong, it very probably is. You have had six decades of practice at reading people and that instinct does not stop working because the conversation is on a screen. You do not need proof and you do not owe anybody an explanation. Slow down, or walk away.

Keep the conversation here for a while

If somebody pushes early to move you onto WhatsApp, be careful. There is usually a reason for the hurry. Off the site there is no moderation, no reporting tool and no record of what was said, which is precisely the point for them. Genuine members are generally happy to keep talking here until you both know each other a little better.

How do I report someone on the site?

Scroll to the bottom of their profile and click the "Report profile" link, which looks like this:

Your report is confidential and the person is never told about it. Use the "Ignore" link afterwards as well, so they cannot contact you again. They will no longer see your profile and will most likely assume you have left. Please do not hold back because you are not certain. We would far rather look into ten hunches that come to nothing than miss the one that mattered.

How do I report it to the authorities?

Argentina has no single national fraud hotline, so this depends on where you live. The formal complaint, the denuncia, is made in your own province.

• Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Fully online at denuncias.fiscalias.gob.ar, where estafas are a listed category. Or ring 0800-33-347225, free, at any hour.
• Provincia de Buenos Aires. Online at mpba.gov.ar/denuncia. No lawyer needed, no cost, and you get a case number you can follow at mpba.gov.ar/seguimiento.
• Santa Fe. Online at mpa.santafe.gov.ar/denuncias, or ring 911 between 8am and 8pm and a lawyer will take the denuncia over the phone and email you the certificate. Estafas are specifically included.
• Córdoba. Start at the provincial portal. Some matters can be completed online and others have to be finished in person, so check before you set out.
• Anywhere else. Go to the comisaría or the fiscalía nearest your home. If anyone tries to send you away, they are required by law to take your complaint.

Separately, report it to UFECI, the national cybercrime unit, by emailing [email protected]. Be clear with yourself about what this is: UFECI receives reports, not denuncias, so it does not replace the step above. It is how the pattern gets recorded nationally, which is how these networks eventually get found.

If you are in immediate danger, ring 911.

If you have already sent money

Move quickly, and in this order.

• Ring the bank or the fintech first. Say the transfer was fraudulent and ask them to freeze what they can. They have ten working days to answer a complaint. Get the complaint number in writing.
• If they do not resolve it, go to the BCRA at bcra.gob.ar, which handles complaints the bank has failed to settle.
• Make the denuncia using the route for your province above. Do this even if the money is gone.
• Check whether anything has been taken out in your name. The BCRA's Central de Deudores is free and will show loans, cards and debts registered against your CUIL over the last two years.
• Ring 149. That is CENAVID, the national victim support service, free, at any hour, every day of the year. Legal advice, psychological support, and a free lawyer through the PatrocinAR programme if you need one. Use it. This is what it is for.

Consumer protection is worth knowing about too, though it works on the bank rather than on the scammer, since there is no consumer relationship with a stranger who lied to you. You can complain about a bank or a paid service at autogestion.produccion.gob.ar/consumidores. The law recognises older people as consumidores hipervulnerables, which is a status worth naming when you write.

And tell somebody. The silence is what these people count on, and it is the reason so much of this never gets reported at all.

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